Editor's Desk: A Modern Apostle

By Michael F. Flach
Herald Editor
(From the issue of 4/7/05)

This week I was scheduled to join a group of Catholic editors as we toured the Polish cities of Warsaw and Krakow. We were going to retrace the early steps of the future pontiff in Wadowice, Pope John Paul II’s boyhood home. Auschwitz, Jasna Gora, the "Black Madonna" and Blessed Sister Faustina’s Divine Mercy Shrine were on the itinerary.

Everything changed last Wednesday when news arrived from the Vatican that the Holy Father’s health had taken a turn for the worse. It was obvious by Friday morning that we would be working through the weekend on a special issue to celebrate John Paul II’s life and legacy. My Polish adventure would have to wait.

As a staff, the thought of planning a special issue to honor the Holy Father was in the back of our minds for several years. Each new trip to the hospital only heightened those expectations and brought it closer to reality. We worked closely with Catholic News Service (CNS) to package archival photographs and material into a special keepsake edition that we hope you and your family will enjoy for years to come. That edition should have arrived in your homes on April 5 (contact our circulation department at 703/841-2565 for additional copies).

One of the more dramatic changes since Karol Wojtyla first appeared on the world stage in 1978 has been the media explosion. The Internet and 24-hour cable news programs have changed the way we view world news. It’s safe to say that John Paul II was the most photographed man in history. Vatican officials used email to notify the media of the pope’s death. Photographers and TV cameras have been given unprecedented access to the Vatican’s inner sanctum.

The Holy Father’s declining health and subsequent death on April 2 received tremendous coverage on CNN, Fox News and other cable outlets. Even the local television stations turned over large chunks of their programming schedule to network coverage of the event. TV crews camped outside St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington and St. Thomas More Cathedral in Arlington, while Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Bishop Paul S. Loverde were besieged with interview requests.

On Monday morning we watched as the pope’s body was carried from the papal apartment to St. Peter’s Basilica, where it will lie in state until the funeral service on Friday. Hundreds of world leaders, including U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, are expected to attend the service. Millions of people are expected to descend upon Rome to be part of this historic moment.

For the most part, the television coverage I viewed was most favorable toward the Church and the pope. The news anchors, some of whom are Catholic, revealed a passable understanding of the faith and the intricacies of Vatican politics. It seemed as if Rome correspondents John Allen (National Catholic Reporter and CNN) and Greg Burke (Fox News and Columbia magazine) did not sleep for at least 72 hours. Father John Neuhaus, editor of First Things, and Father Thomas Reese, S.J., editor of America magazine, were among numerous Catholic clergy called upon to share their expertise. The outpouring of love and respect from the ecumenical community has been honest and sincere.

It has been a tremendous evangelizing moment for the Church, one that Pope John Paul II would surely appreciate. As a true apostle for the modern age, he recognized early the importance of utilizing the media to convey the message of Jesus Christ. — M.F.F.

Copyright ©2005 Arlington Catholic Herald.  All rights reserved.